Use Decorative Stitches to Make Your Own Fabric

If you’re looking for ideas to use the decorative stitches on your Janome sewing machine, why not use them to create new fabric? Let me show you how.

As a quilter, I don’t often get to take advantage of the many decorative stitches on the Janome MC9400, which is a shame. There are so many decorative stitches to choose from on this machine and a variety of options with them. You can adjust the width and length of most of them and you can even switch them up vertically or horizontally or even mirror some of them. This makes for an almost limitless number of decorative stitches on the Janome MC9400 and, if you want to design your own stitches, you can use the included Stitch Composer to do that.

With all these options for the decorative stitches on the Janome MC9400, I really wanted to be able to use them in my quilting and I’ve found a way to do so by creating my own fabric with them.

To make your own personalized fabric using the decorative stitches on the Janome MC9400, you’ll need a few things:

Fabric – a solid colour fabric works best

Fabric Stabilizer – you’ll need one or two sheets of lightweight tearaway or another type of fabric stabilizer

Thread – I like to use a 50 weight thread that is close in colour to my fabric

Janome MC9400, of course

The first thing you need to do is to choose which decorative stitches you want to use on your fabric. I chose ones that were similar in that they stitched in bars. I didn’t choose any wavy or long stitches, but you can choose any that you like.

Next, you should always stitch out a sample of your chosen stitches on the same fabric, ensuring that you have a fabric stabilizer behind your fabric. This is when you can decide if you want to use the stitch’s default settings or want to make some changes. Be sure to write down the stitch number and any changes that you have made to it on your sample fabric so you’ll easily find these stitches on your Janome MC9400 when you want to create your fabric.

Now comes the fun part! You’re going to make your own fabric! I like to use my walking foot when I stitch, ensuring that the zigzag needle plate is on the Janome MC9400. I have different foot options: Decorative stitches are best done using the Satin stitch foot F or F2 which is an open toe foot. The Border Guide foot (optional accessory foot, is also a good choice)

THE JANOME BORDER GUIDE FOOT – also available for both 7mm and 9mm machine models. Pic courtesy of Sew4Home

I like to do this type of stitching on a diagonal for an interesting effect, but you could certainly stitch them in rows if you’d like.

The front of the stitched fabric

The back of the stitched fabric with stabilizer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information on how to use decorative stitches on the Janome MC9400 to create your own fabric, click here.

If you’re wondering how you might use this created fabric, why not try it as fabric in your pieced quilt blocks or in tote bags, purses or pouches? The fact that you can personalize this fabric makes it so versatile and so you.

Have fun with this easy technique using the decorative stitches on the Janome MC9400.

For videos and more information on the Janome MC9400 sewing machine, visit my Chatterbox Quilts’ YouTube channel.

Happy stitching from Kim Jamieson-Hirst, Janome Canada Artisan in Calgary, Alberta.

 

Janome Education Events

While working in the Janome booth at the larger quilt and sewing shows like the Creativ Festival and Quilt Canada, I’m often asked by attendees about our Janome Education Events, which we offer at the Janome dealerships across the country.

Usually our educators and Janome dealers set these events up then advertise them to you, our Janome customers. But YOU can help us out by requesting events/ topics as well. Contact your local Janome dealer to let them know what YOU would like to learn and hear more about.

For example, one of the current events we’re offering is in response to consumer feedback for more education with our iPad apps for our Wifi-Certified machines, the Janome Horizon Memory Craft 15000 Quiltmaker and the Janome Skyline 9.

Each of these machine stitches beautiful embroidery so we’ve designed a hands-on event appropriately named “Sew hAPPy” (the “h” is silent, lol!) where we use the amazing Janome Acusetter App for perfect embroidery placement to stitch out this adorable porcupine applique and bonus pin cushion. How cute is that?! We’ve been calling him Porky.

You’ll use many features of the machines, like the Janome Cloth Guide, to sew the basket which has pockets all around the outside. Who doesn’t need more storage and organization?!

I made my sample above to coordinate with our black and white themed booth at this Fall’s Creativ Festival, but the fabric we have prepared for the “Sew hAPPy” kits features the bright and beautiful fabric by our Janome Artisan Tamara Kate and white trim for the handles. The pink felt is to embroider Porky.

Contact your local Janome dealer to ask if they have scheduled the “Sew hAPPy” event , or any of our other Janome Education Events. There’s lots to learn and they’re lots of FUN!

Janome is GREAT at combining both!

 

 

 

 

GLAD YOU ASKED THAT- Where can I find valuable information for my Janome sewing?

Where can I find information for my Janome machines, accessories and software? 

This is a question I am asked so frequently that I feel as though I am repeating myself dreadfully. However, the question needs to be answered again as so many of you want to use as many of the features and functions on your machines as possible. I understand that completely and all is good – you should want to do that!   I am going to re-use a post I wrote almost 2 years ago as it contains very valuable resources for you. 

It is a fact that there will be a significant amount of self learning that you will need to be committed to doing when you buy our Janome or Artistic Creative products.  In all honesty, unless we spend time sewing and embroidering on our machines or “playing” with our software, we really cannot expect to learn very much.  I frequently tell the story about Gary Player the South African Master golfer: He was approached by a cheeky reporter one day after hitting a hole in one at some big golf event. The reporter told him he was so lucky to have hit a hole in one. Gary’s reply was “Isn’t it amazing that the more I practice, the luckier I get!”  There you have it…….I think you will agree that we really DO need to spend time “practicing” on our machines & computers to become truly proficient. This is the self-learning process. This does not happen overnight and will require time and effort. But it will be a lot of creative fun and we will definitely know our machines better and be able to use many more of the features we received when we purchased our quality products!

• The very first place we refer you to is your local Janome or Artistic Dealer. Generally this is the store where you purchased your Janome machine or Artistic Digital cutter or Janome or Artistic software products.  Your dealer receives training on these products they sell and should be your first go-to place when you have queries or require training on our products.

• All machines, software and our Digital cutter do have an instruction manual. It really is quite surprizing how few people read their manuals.  This is a great starting point to familiarize yourself with the product; what all the buttons or icons are and how to operate the machine or software etc. Please make use of this helpful resource.
• Many of our machines do have an Instructional DVD included in the box when you purchase the machine. This is also a great self-learning tool which is often missed or neglected. Please watch it as many times as you might require to get you started and on your way to many enjoyable hours of creating with your machine.
• We also have Workbooks for some of our products. Please ask your local Jnaome dealer about these. We highly recommend you purchase the applicable ones for your Janome products as these will help you to maximize your use of your Janome investment! We have done posts on these workbooks so do a search in the search box on this janomelife for more detailed information. We also usually take these with us to Education events and shows so that you can flip through them to see the value lying inside the binders before you buy.  There are workbooks for the Mc12000; Mc15000, Presser feet and more.

• Try this websites for specific machine information: www.janome.com Click on the Product tab and then choose what machines or accessories or software you wish to have more information about.
• You Tube has many video’s which can assist you with your self learning. There are many individuals and sewing stores across the globe who post video’s on You Tube. While these may be useful, we would prefer to refer you to the official Janome You Tube channels.  There are dozens on some topics and literally hundreds of video’s on other topics so do take your time to work systematically through these video’s. You will probably want to make a note of the ones you might like to return to for multiple viewings. Janome  staff have invested much expertise and man hours into making these useful video’s for you so we urge you to make as much use of these video’s as possible.  Here is the list of You Tube links:
• You Tube Janome USA for many video’s on various Janome machines, software and more.
• You Tube Janome Canada channel . 

 

• In addition, you may do a search on janomelife blog > homepage > search box . Type whatever topic you are seeking information about in the search box and click for a list of every blog post we have done on this topic or where your topic is mentioned.  This is a valuable way to find janomelife information quickly so please do use it.

• There are also many video’s and podcasts on iTunes. Some of these are the same as what is on our You Tube channels. It is merely giving you another option of where to access this information plus we are able to give a synopsis on iTunes so that you gain a better understanding of what is in a video before you watch it. This helps considerably when you are looking for an answer to a specific query.  (We are unable to add a synopsis to You Tube video’s).  To access the video’s on iTunes you will need to have an Apple ID which you may set up for your smart phone, iPad or computer.  It will ask to set up an account & ask you for a credit card lest you decide to buy an app, a book or music etc at some point.  However, these video’s I refer to here are absolutely free and you credit card will therefore not be charged anything when you access them.

• Janome.com offers a great LEARN TAB  where you can access webinars; Technique video’s; Software lessons as well as a tab with a whole host of useful links.
• Sewing and Quilt Shows across Canada: Janome educators and staff are usually at most of the major shows across Canada.   You are most welcome to bring your questions to our staff on the Janome booth. Please assist us by knowing what your Janome or Elna model # is as it is difficult for us to answer questions properly when we don’t know which machine you are referring to.

 

 I will update and re-publish this list from time to time as it seems that many people just don’t know where to start to look for all this GREAT information.  We do hope we have made this a little easier for you.

Please bookmark this page and keep it as a handy reference tool for your self-learning process on your Janome  machine. 

 

 

 

Spotlight on our Janome Specialty Presser Feet PART 1

Though our Janome sewing machines come with a fabulous array of presser feet; one of our “entry level” models, the Janome 1122 SVU, for example, comes with an impressive 8 feet! The research and development team at Janome is always listening to consumers and providing us with more in order to help fulfill our sewing needs.

Janome presser feet are some of the most economically priced in the market, so it’s definitely worth getting a foot, or feet, which will save you time, make the task easier and give you more professional results.

Sure, you could use a Janome Zipper foot (Foot E) to make piping, for example, but a dedicated Piping foot (Foot I) makes the job quicker and easier with fantastic results.

The key to its success? The two grooves in the bottom of the foot allow the cord or yarn or whatever you use for the filler of the piping, to easily pass through while stitching. NO need to tug and pull the fabric. Perfect! Click on this link for a tutorial on piping, as well be sure to check out our friends at Sew 4 Home who’ve prepared a ton of projects and tips on sewing piping, as well as many of Janome’s specialty presser feet.

Janome has thought of everything by providing detailed instructions on the back of the blister pack, as they do for ALL of the specialty presser feet and attachments.

Below is just a small sampling of the bundle of specialty presser feet I took home from the office to play with. There’s a foot for every need, every task. I like keeping all the feet in their blister packs as it’s easier for me to organize them (in alphabetical order) and it helps me find them, especially when I’m sewing in hurry……. Who isn’t these days?!

A visit to your local Janome dealer will allow you to “oh” and “aah” over many of the Janome specialty presser feet available for your machine. New ones often become available on the market. If your local Janome dealer possibly does not have one in stock, they can always order it in for you.

A good tip I learned from a very wise Janome user is to take your machine manual or a photocopy of some of the relevant pages which has the description and diagrams of what came with your machine. This will help tremendously to ensure you get the proper feet for your machine. You could also find your machine on the Janome.com website and look under Optional Accessories to see what is available for your machine model.

Since I’m often working on several projects at once, I try to stay organized by hanging the Janome specialty presser feet I’m working with at the time from a magnetic bull-dog clip, which is stuck to the side of the metal drawer units under my sewing table. This way I can TRY to keep the top of my sewing table clear and the feet won’t accidentally fall into the garbage pail while laying loose on the table. Ask me how I know this – LOL!

Now, I know what you’re thinking; you already have a lot of these Janome specialty presser and you haven’t seen those blister pack instructions  in years. How do you use that foot?! Or, perhaps you just came back from your dealer’s with your arms full of new goodies, but your head is spinning from all the information they gave you and you can’t remember a thing. Happens to us all! But again…….  never fear. Janome to the rescue! Our next post on this topic has very good news about an excellent resource to assist you…..stay tuned for Part 2 about Specialty Feet on 28 November.

A Colourful Celebration!

So easy to use – the hardest part is deciding which colour you love best!

Today we welcome the newest members of the Janome Canada line of sewing machines: the Colourful Series: Arctic Crystal, Pink Sorbet and Blue Couture. Come along for the ride as Janome Artisan team members try out this cutie, and read further along for some of the must-know details on this machine that is popping into dealer stores across Canada.

 

 

Look Who’s Sewing…

Nicole Nowosad is the crafting genius behind all of the great projects in our Scrapbook and Cards Today advertising. She used her Colourful machine to create a holiday layout, see in this sneak peek image. (More details to come in an upcoming holiday themed release).

Janome Artisan, Sherri Sylvester of Thread Riding Hood has taken a Pink Couture machine for a spin, with her daughter. Pop over to her blog to see what they get up to!

Make your own Itty Bitty Accessory Pouch with Tania’s Instructions

And Tania Denyer of Ginger Quilts welcomed her own Arctic Crystal home, bestowing her with a name and whipping up a great little starter project for all to try. Please visit her blog to learn the back story! We asked Tania if she could create a simple project to help get any beginner or part-time sewist off to a great start. We think you’ll love her Itty Bitty Accessory bag (Download the Instructions here)

The Basics

The Colourful series models look bright and cheery like our legendary sew-mini machines, but they are all full size and ready for all of your sewing and crafting adventures. These great all around machines offer the ease of simple operation and feature:

The full size Arctic Crystal compared to a Sew Mini model

• 15 Stitches (or stitch functions)
• 1 – Four Step buttonhole
• Free arm
• Front loading bobbin
• Manual thread tension and stitch selection
• 4 Standard and 4 BONUS accessory feet
• A 25 Year limited warranty
• You can view the full feature sheet here

Designed For Beginners

The Colourful series has the beginner in mind, offering helpful guidance in anything from video tutorials to handy quick start guides (printed bilingual guides are packed in the box.) You’ll even find a printed bobbin threading guide right on the machine!

Making the Most of Your Experience

The BONUS Gathering foot

The standard accessory feet will cover most of your early sewing needs, but there’s also a collection of 4 BONUS feet included for your further adventures! These include the 3-Way Cording foot, Gathering foot, Overedge foot and Rolled Hem foot.

We hope that you will visit your JANOME dealer to learn more about this cutie and start creating your own colourful projects.

 

 

 

 

The power of determination……..and following our passion.

Are you passionate about sewing? Will you go out of your way to visit a sewing store or buy fabric from somewhere you were told was a great place to shop? I sure know how I would answer these questions!

I recently went to London to visit my family and decided that I really wanted to visit areas of London which are known as places to see if you sew or are interested in buying fabric and sewing supplies.  I did my research ahead of time (I follow several good UK sewing blogs and websites & quickly got the scoop of where to look at fabric in London).  So I made my list: The Berwick Street area of Soho, the Goldhawk Road and a certain street market in Walhamstow High Street (right out on the end of one of the London tube lines) with one particular stall called The Man outside Sainsburys (TMOS).  Karen of “Did you make that? “ blog speaks often about TMOS and how she buys great fabric from him at excellent pricing. I found this to be true……

The Man outside Sainsburys where I purchased several lovely pieces of fabric: scuba and more. Despite very inclement weather that day, I persevered and shopped for fabric while the water dripped down the back of my neck!

More fabric choices from TMOS

After this little shopping expedition, my hubby and grandson were dragged along to my next stop: I left them warm and dry inside a MacDonalds and walked over 2km (more than got my steps in that day?!)  to a store called Sew Over It that I had heard about. It is a Janome store as well as offering fabric, sewing supplies, sewing lessons and the book and sewing patterns under the Sew Over it label. I bought some lovely fabric here, some of which I have already made into a fabulous infinity scarf….which sure beats the usual boring vacation souvenirs in my opinion……Pics in a later post on Infinity scarves.

Sew Over It has a few stores – this was one of them tucked in a part of London I had never seen before. All I had was the GPS on my phone and …….the power of determination.  Some will think me quite mad…… but I had a blast. Gotta be passionate about something to go to these lengths!

Lisa Comfort of Sew Over It store and book fame.

Janome UK machine model that was being used in the Sew Over It classroom where a class was taking place while I visited. I asked permission to take pics of the store which was graciously given.

Some of the lovely goodies on display at Sew Over it.

I could have spent much more money but the exchange rate and space in my suitcase prevented me from doing so.

On another, less rainy day, we got our steps in walking up & down the Goldhawk Road and the Berwick Street area – both areas are very different in types of stores and price of fabrics. I found a lovely piece of scuba print…..not sure yet what I will make with it.  So the fun part of choosing a pattern, cutting out the fabric and sewing up new garments awaits me.

What do you do for fun during your vacation? Are you passionate and determined to achieve what you set out to do? Mmmmm……this time I got it right!

Highlights from the Fall Creativ in Toronto

The Fall Creativ Festival is held in October in Toronto each year. Janome was, of course, there to be part of all the creative fun.

We recently set up our Janome & Elna booths at the Fall Creativ in Toronto and I thought I would share some pics with you.

Janome sponsored the Ultimate Sewing Studio Grand Door prize again. This was a fabulous opportunity for one lucky sewer to win $10,000’s worth of Janome machines: the Janome MC9400; the Janome MC500E embroidery machine and the Janome Four DLM serger. I was very thrilled when I dug deep into the barrel and picked out the winning entry…… AND she was in the audience and could hardly believe her luck! Here she is posing with me next to the winning machines. Congrats to Christine of St Thomas, Ontario!

The winner of our Ultimate Sewing Studio worth $10 000 is Christine of St Thomas, Ontario on the right in the pic.

We had a serger station complete with our fabulous new Air thread AT2000D serger. People were amazed at how the upper and lower looper threads come shooting out of the eyes of the loopers. It sure elevates threading a serger to new heights!

This is Anne-Margaret, our new Janome Canada Educator. She was so excited to be able to attend the Creativ Festival and she sure proved to be a huge help to us on the booth. Here she is showing a customer how simply amazing the new Airthread serger is.

Our Janome Educator, Michael, was asked to be a judge at the Project Creativ Catwalk 2018 held at Creativ Festival. Here he is at the podium just before the winning Fashion School team was announced.

Celine brought some lovely Halloween samples to display on the booth at the show. Here are some pics:

This is a lovely seasonal table topper with detachable coasters

 

We had a black and white colour theme on the booth and this was just a small corner with some of the items we had on display for consumers to be inspired and have some creative fun.

See you at the next Creativ Festival!

Prepping a Quilt for Machine Quilting

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

So if that phrase rings true, how do you sandwich an oversized queen quilt for quilting on your domestic home sewing machine? The answer: One step at a time.  I have undertaken a big project to share with you, one that has been in the back of my brain  (and storage closet) for some time. I made this gorgeous quilt at a retreat I attended some time ago, but the thought of quilting it myself was something I wasn’t ready for. I’ve had it packed away until now. The weather is getting cooler, and we need a new quilt for our bed. So I took a deep breath (as I often do when approaching a new task or situation), and dug it out. I’m so excited to share this series with you. We’re going to talk about our machine/space set up, basting techniques, and much more.

Step 1 involved pressing my backing and quilt top, and making sure I had a large enough piece of batting. Once I had all my pieces ready, I also grabbed two paper straws and taped them into an “x” so that I could mark a center. Also handy was some electrical or masking tape, a pencil, Artistic Tack Temporary Adhesive and some scissors. It was so challenging to decide which parts of my process of basting to record for you, so I recorded the whole thing. It took about an hour and a half from start to finish, so pop some popcorn…..lol. Just kidding. I really did record the whole thing, but I condensed it into a 5 minute clip for your viewing enjoyment.

Janomelife Editor: Please note that this is one way to sandwich a big quilt: The video below shows a rather energetic Erin doing a wonderful job of sandwiching her lovely quilt. However, there are other ways to do this which are not as hard on the knees and back?! If you have a table or several tables large enough to push together, it can be done at a higher elevation OR it can be done by spray basting it vertically against a wall. All methods do work…just offering a couple more options)

There are a few things I wanted to point out about my process: Even though I marked my center, I didn’t absolutely stick to it. My backing fabric is not directional at all, so I felt that being off center was OK. Also being off center made it so that I added batting instead of backing fabric to one side. I also used a combination of spray baste and pins. I pinned the outside edge so that my layers stayed together with the shifting that is going to happen once I got going. I figured using a handful of pins as insurance was a good thing. I also pinned my rolls of quilt sandwich to my quilt. Why? To make it easier to maneuver the whole thing in my Janome Skyline 9.

After getting the quilt sandwich ready, the next task was my workspace.

So step 2: Clear your sewing table and set up some extra support around you. I placed a height adjustable table beside me to hold the extra weight of the quilt sandwich. This makes the work space more ergonomic for quilting, leaving you with the fun of the quilting instead of the “sandwich struggle”.

Some Janome models have a throat space of  9, 10, 11 or more inches. The Janome Skyline S9 has an 8.3″ throat space, but I wanted to leave myself enough room to move it around without having it unroll on me. I will quilt the whole middle section, starting at the center and moving to either edge without un-rolling the edges. This will make my quilting much faster, because I’m not going to be wrangling the sections that I’m not working on. Once my middle section is done, then I can slowly unroll one side as I quilt each section.

But now what? How do you actually quilt it? Stay tuned for Part 2!

JanomeGirl

 

EDUCATOR PICK OF THE MONTH: STITCH COMPOSER FOR HALLOWEEN?

Pic courtesy of Kathy at Snip and Stitch, Nanaimo, BC who allowed me to photograph her delightful seasonal front door welcome.

I love to go trick or treating with my grand kids but forget the witch’s hats, scary monsters and grave stones………These scare my little ones a bit and I don’t don’t dress up anyway ( yes, you can call me a party pooper?!)  Instead, I make new Halloween stitches for my Janome sewing machine! Granted, I don’t find anyone gives me any candy (sigh) but, in all honesty, I should not be eating all that sugar. But I don’t mind as I have so much fun making new sewing machines stitches!

We continue to be so excited about the creative possibilities of adding stitches to our sewing machines ……..extra stitches WE can easily make especially for a specific project …………or maybe just because we can? Take a look at all the pics below…..none of these are standard built-in stitches on any of our Janome models. All have been created in Stitch Composer, a software program which comes free with a number of our Janome machines (currently this would be the Janome MC12000; MC15000; MC9400; Skyline S7 and Skyline S9)

What about embellishing a Halloween candy bag with cute with machine stitches like black cats, pumpkins, spider’s webs etc?? My mind went racing along and I got caught up in Halloween fun creating these stitches in our very user friendly STITCH COMPOSER program.

YES…… many of you DO have this capability! Perhaps you just did not realize what is sitting there waiting for you to install on your PC, open up & use to create your very own new stitches OR edit existing machine built-in stitches to make them your own!

Notice from the stitch-outs above that we combined created stitches (pumpkin; apple; spider’s web) with built-in machine stitches like the little cat (which may be found on the Janome MC9400; Skyline S7; Skyline S9; MC12000; MC15000; and maybe other models too?). Not only did we use the stitch combo function, but we also stitched rows of stitches in different colors…….Yes, this is actually quite simple: program a combo with (for example) the cat with bridging stitches between the cats. Stitch this out and then fill in the gaps with pumpkins and apples etc in different colours. Use the lock stitch function to stitch just one and tie off between the cats or spider’s webs.

Another pic courtesy of Kathy at Snip and Stitch, Nanaimo: these Jack-O-Lanterns are growing in her garden and looked SO pretty and seasonal, I just had to share with you!

Our cute little HALLOWEEN CANDY BAG:

Rows were marked on the fabric and then a selection of brand new STITCH COMPOSER stitches were stitched. Some were combined with other stitches…..created in Stitch Composer or built in machine stitches. Rows with different colours were also sewed.

Using the Janome BORDER GUIDE FOOT  as  seen in this pic  is also most useful for multiple rows of stitches.

The embroidery design used on the other side of the bag is one of the built-in designs on the Janome Horizon MC15000

We even stitched black cats & spider’s webs on the bag handles.

Are the wheels turning yet? We sure hope so as the possibilities that Stitch Composer offers can result in a lot of sewing fun as you create all sorts of new stitches for your machine. 

What about Christmas trees? tree ornaments? snowmen? & more. 

Make new 9mm sewing machine stitches to add to your Christmas gifts, gift tags and home decor projects. 

 

Our first Trick-or-Treat!

Oh my gosh!! I’m so excited! I get to go trick-or-treating this year! Ahem, I guess I should clarify that I get to take my daughter out so *SHE* can go trick-or-treating. But who are we kidding, this year those treats are MINE. That’s the unwritten rule of parenting, isn’t it? And in future years, when she does get to enjoy her bounty, I get first pick at Reese’s peanut butter cups and crispy crunch bars – that’s a parental tithe, isn’t it?

Anyhow, that aside, I’m more excited than I should be to take our little girl out to visit family this year for her first Halloween adventure. And while she won’t remember it, I know she will enjoy it and we will have photos and memories to look back on.

I admit, I didn’t make her costume this year… in my excitement of becoming a Mom, I bought her an outfit when she was just two weeks old. BUT, I did make her this adorable trick-or-treat bag that is a little over eager for this year but can be used for many Halloweens to come!

I freestyled this bag using basic bag construction. I found some adorable kitty fabric at our local fabric store and spruced it up a bit with a kitty-cat appliqué. Double-sided fusible interfacing was used to initially secure my applique to the bag fabric.

To add a little more interest to my bag, I added a stripe of the contrasting fabric to the bottom.

I use my Janome Skyline S7 for appliqué work all the time.

While I have been doing a lot of sewing lately using the AcuFeed Flex Foot, I changed my foot to one more suited to appliqué so that I can turn it easily – it worked especially well on this curvy cat appliqué project.

And I used the appliqué stitch that can be found on most Janome machines.

And then for practical reasons (aka – to fit in more candy!), I did a box construction on the bottom to make it flat and open a little wider.

Momma needs all the extra peanut butter cups this bag can hold!

I’m soooo excited to take my daughter out on Halloween and put this little (big?) treat bag to good use!

Did you do any Halloween sewing this year? Do you have children that trick-or-treat? Will you be handing out candy this year? What is your favourite Halloween treat?